So I continue to read Blood Meridian. I've only about an hour remaining, then I'm done. It's a bit of an ordeal--the book is so damn bloody and dismal but I find that I'm thinking about it a lot. It's well written and provocative.

Here is some background on the book, and some reviews:
The Wikipedia entry
A New York Times book review
Another review, from Salon.com

I keep thinking back to Steven King's GunSlinger. There's no room for him in McCarthy's west. How about the GunSlinger vs McCarthy's Judge? How about King's Man in Black vs McCarthy's Judge?

And how would the Judge behave in a modern world? He might do quite well. He could travel to Iraq, where murder is cheap. Note that in Blood Meridian the Judge chose to travel to the west where there was a desire for someone with his proclivities. I don't recall any references to the Judge's past. McCarthy seems to keep it deliberately vague and seems possible that he could have left behind a life in some eastern city.

I noticed that, according to IMDB, Ridley Scott is producing (or will produce) a movie based on Blood Meridian. Ebert notes that "The Proposition", a movie based in the Australian outback is similar in theme to Blood Meridian. "The Proposition" sounds from Ebert's review to be almost unwatchably brutal and if Scott's adaptation of "Blood Meridian" is at all true to the book it will unwatchable, I think.